Module Identifier CS26110  
Module Title THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOLBOX: PART 1: HOW TO FIND SOLUTIONS  
Academic Year 2007/2008  
Co-ordinator Dr Myra S Wilson  
Semester Semester 1  
Other staff Dr Myra S Wilson, Mr David J Smith, Professor Mark H Lee, Dr Yonghuai Liu, Professor Qiang Shen  
Pre-Requisite CS12420  
Co-Requisite None  
Mutually Exclusive None  
Course delivery Lecture   18 Hours.  
  Seminars / Tutorials   2 seminars on the assignment  
  Practical   6  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Exam2 Hours STANDARD 2 HOUR EXAMINATION  70%
Semester Assessment WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT BASED ON COURSE MATERIAL  30%
Supplementary Assessment Will take the same form, under the terms of the Departments policy100%
Further details http://www.aber.ac.uk/compsci/ModuleInfo/CS26110  

Learning outcomes

Write simple programs in Java to search for solutions using the AI techniques discussed in the module.

Demonstrate an appreciation of at least one application of each AI method that they have studied.

Demonstrate an understanding of the learning methods discussed in this module.

Aims

Brief description

This module begins with a motivational section on the use of AI in computer games programming: one of the cutting-edge applications of AI in use today. It then focuses on the foundational issue of search (finding solutions to problems) and introduces some basic, but important, learning methods.

Content

1. Intro to AI via Games AI   [2 lectures]

What is required to get computers to produce games AI? AI and agents as a principle for this module.What other areas use AI:? -- bioinformatics, business, robotics.

2. What AI methods are there? -- the rest of the course.

Introduce and describe minimax as an example of simplified game playing.
Uninformed Search   [3 lectures]

Informed Search   [3 lectures]

Evolutionary Computation for Search and Optimisation   [3 lectures]

Learning and Adaptation (an overview)   [1 lecture]

We can find solutions, using search, but how can we remember solutions, learn from them and adapt them to new situations? o What methods allow us to use our previous experience to predict the future?

Using the 'rlay Tennis? problem for Decision Trees and Neural Nets (this also raises the importance of knowledge representation)

Learning Method #1 Neural Nets   [3 lectures]

Perceptrons Learning Method # 2 Decision Trees   [3 lectures]

What is a decision tree? How do we use one? How do we build one?

TOTAL: 18 lectures, giving room to talk about how we use Java for AI, and room to talk about the assignment(s).

Module Skills

Problem solving The assignment will require students to apply their newly gained AI knowledge to a problem. Only the outline of the solution will be give, so that the student must solve the details of the problem themselves.  
Research skills Required to solve the problem in (1)  
Communication During the seminars, students will be encouraged to `brainstorm¿ and communicate between themselves and with the lecturer.  
Improving own Learning and Performance In order to solve the problem in (1), using the research from (2), students will improve their abilities in `learning to learn¿.  
Information Technology Use of IT will be vital for the completion of this module.  

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 5